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Grilled sides are of course, you guessed it, better than un-grilled sides. And it’s corn season here in Norway now. It lasts only for a very short time here, about a month, which of course means: eat as much corn as you can, now! This grilled corn salsa is perfect with steak, burgers, ribs, fish, venison – it goes well with all grilled proteins really. It takes a little time to make, but I promise you, it will be worth it.

Fire up your grill according to the 50/50 setup. Place the corn cobs, husks on, directly over the fire. Turn them about every 4-5 minutes. While they’re grilling, get a large bowl, and pour in olive oil, mustard, vinegar, lime juice and honey. Whisk it well together to a dressing, and season well with salt & pepper. Coarsely chop cherry tomatoes and red onion, and mix that with the dressing.

Now you can focus on the corn. Once the husks are nicely charred on all sides, take the corn off the grill, and remove the husks. You might need to let it cool a bit depending on your “chef hands” level.. Once the husks are removed, brush lightly with vegetable oil, and lightly sear (not char) the corn directly over the coals. This should be very quick, so keep turning them all the time, or you will end up having burnt corn.

The corn is now almost ready! Time to get it off the cob. I like to do this in some kind of deep dish, but if you want corn all over your kitchen, you can do it on a cutting board. Set the cobs upright and use a knife to remove the corn from the cob. Once it’s all removed, mix it with 1-2 tbsp of Maldon salt, and the 2 tbsp butter. Grind some pepper over it too. Then, put it in the large bowl with the rest of the stuff, add the chopped cilantro, and mix it up. I like to serve this salsa lukewarm like it should be now, but it also keeps well in the fridge. Enjoy!

This slaw is perfect for baby back ribs, pulled pork, smoked bratwurst and other pork dishes (it is perfect with some pork chops!). The Granny Smith apples make it fresh and crisp, perfect for a warm summer day (just don’t leave it out of the fridge too long).

Time: 15 minutesSkill Level: Easy

What you will need:

1/3 a head of cabbage

2 large Granny Smith apples

2 celery stalks

1/3 cup of heavy cream

1/3 cup of apple cider vinegar

2 tbsp dijon mustard

1 tsp celery seed

1 tsp cayenne pepper

2 tbsp powdered (or regular) sugar

Salt & pepper

How to do it:

Find yourself a large salad bowl, and pour in the cream, vinegar, mustard, celery seed, cayenne, sugar and some salt & pepper. Whisk it all together. If you’re using regular sugar, make sure you whisk until it is all dissolved. Chop your cabbage in thin slices, the apples can be sliced or diced depending on how much texture you want from them. Finely chop the celery stalks. Toss it properly, and ideally leave to sit in the fridge for a couple hours before serving, this really lets the flavors develop. Mix well. Enjoy!

A lot of people like the creamy coleslaw I have posted about earlier on this site. I think it’s perfect on buns for burgers and pulled pork. But as a side to steak, pork chops, bratwurst and more – I personally prefer a vinegar based coleslaw. Another plus of course is that a vinegar based coleslaw is super healthy and almost free of calories, which means I can eat even more smoked meat. So, how about this for a spicy, vinegary slaw for your next BBQ?

Time: 15 minutesSkill Level: Easy

What you will need:

1/2 a head of cabbage

3 carrots

1-6 finely chopped fresh chilies (depending on the level of fire you want)

1 tsp maldon salt

1 tsp celery seed

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup of cider vinegar

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp dijon mustard

Some hot sauce

How to do it:

Find yourself a large salad bowl, and chuck in the salt, celery seed, pepper, vinegar, olive oil, mustard, and a couple tsp of your favorite hot sauce. Whisk it all together into a lovely dressing, adding more salt/pepper/hot sauce to taste. Chop your cabbage, carrots and chilies the way you like them (I’m lazy, so I grate it all in my food processor…), and throw it in there. Mix well. I think this slaw tastes best if I make it in the morning and let it sit in the fridge until dinner time. Enjoy!

Aubergine puréee is an easy side dish to make on the grill. It goes particularly well with lamb, but also works nicely as a side for steak or venison. Here’s how I normally do it.

Time: 60-90 minutesSkill Level: Easy

What you will need:
4 large aubergines
2 whole garlic
1/2 cup of good olive oil
1 lemon
Salt/pepper

How to do it:

Get your grill ready for indirect cooking at about 175-200C (350-400F)First, prep the aubergines by stabbing them repeteadly with a fork all over. This can be fun, imagine you’re stabbing someone you really don’t like! Or don’t. Once the grill is ready, chuck the aubergines and the whole garlic on the coldest side of the grill, and roast them for about 45-60 minutes. When the aubergines are done they will feel noticeably softer than they were. Get everything off the grill. Peel the aubergines and chop them roughly, put them in a blender. Squeeze the now soft garlic “meat” out of the whole garlic. Mix it all up in a blender, while slowly adding the olive oil. Add juice from the lemon and salt and pepper to taste. Serve!

Pickle relish is fantastic. Nothing beats a good smoked bratwurst in a homemade bun, slathered with homemade IPA mustard and some delicious relish. Now that’s a hot dog! A cool thing about this recipe, is that it’s the only way I know of to make something pickled in less than half an hour. This one is ready to eat right off the bat. That’s pretty cool. This recipe should make for about one large mason jar type container, so just double it if you need more.

Put them in a sieve and drain some of the water out squeezing them gently with your hands or some kind of spoon implement. Put all the grated vegetables in a pot with the vinegar and the honey

Bring to a boil, and add a tablespoon or two of mustard seed, a pinch of celery seed, and as much chili flakes as you want. I use chili flakes that are quite hot, so for me about a teaspoon is enough for this one

Let it simmer until desired consistency is reached

Put in sterilized jars and enjoy delicious homemade relish for months to come

Been a long time since I posted a BBQ sauce recipe, so here is another favorite. Not very spicy, but smoky and sweet. Goes great with sausage, pork ribs, chicken and pulled pork sandwiches, and a favorite at my house for the people who can’t take the heat of a lot of my other stuff.

How to do it:
This couldn’t be easier. Chuck everything except the ketchup in a saucepan, stir well and bring to a boil. Let simmer for 10 minutes. Add the ketchup, bring to boil. Taste. Add vinegar, sweetener, salt and pepper until you get your preferred flavor. Let cool, put in jars. Keeps for months in the fridge if you use sterilized jars.

Came up with a new BBQ sauce today. The plan is to use it for beef short ribs, so that’s what I thought about when coming up with the flavour profile for it. It’s slightly sweet, very tangy, and as spicy as you want to make it. I ordered some delicious dried Chipotles from iHerb. They’re kinda hard to come by in Norway. If you can get them locally where you live, consider yourself lucky. Here’s what I did.

First thing you want to do is heat up some oil in a saucepan. Then add finely chopped onions, garlic, fresh chillies, and the chipotle peppers. Let them caramelize on low for about 15 minutes, then add the other dried spices and cook another 5 minutes.

Now you can add the A1, the vinegar, the ketchup, and the sugar. let it simmer until you get the desired thickness, and remember the sugar will make it thicker when it’s cold, so if you plan to primarily serve it cold, you should consider that.

Once it reaches it desired thickness, it is time to blend. The cool thing here is you can take out one or more whole chipotles, blend, taste and see how spicy it is. If it’s not hot enough for you, add inn chipotle(s) and blend again until it’s just right for you. How cool is that!?

I am big into craft beer these days. I have a particular fondness for American style, hop-crazy IPAs and double IPAs. So I decided to try and make some mustard with an IPA twist to it. If you prefer, you can use other beers as well, I have tried some strong tasting stouts and had success with those too. Mustard is easy and fairly cheap to make, and since the whole process requires no cooking, tasting and adjusting while going along is easy! So why don’t you make your own mustard to go with those delicious smoked brats?